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Join NowBen Wikler Is the Right Leader at the Right Time for the DNC
By MoveOn Executive Director Rahna Epting
Let’s face it: We’ve got a lot of work to do to fight back against a second Donald Trump term. Those of us who were working to stop Trump simply did not turn out enough votes in enough states to win the White House. While we are processing and preparing for the grave implications of Trump’s return, this reality requires us to do serious, sober reflection about how we arrived here and show creativity and curiosity in charting the path forward.
There is still much to be learned from what went wrong in the 2024 election, yet it is clear that the path to blunting Trump’s agenda and preparing to win again in 2026 will require a multipronged approach. Our path forward must leverage the entire coalition’s strengths and resources to support a strong, durable, and aggressive Democratic Party that embraces the issues voters care about most.
We need someone at the helm of the Democratic Party who can meet the moment: a tireless leader who will organize and build from the ground up; a skilled communicator who can reach and engage all parts of the coalition; a strategist who will bring elected officials, state leaders and outside groups together; and a proven fundraiser to ensure we have the necessary resources to compete with Trump’s MAGA machine. We need a 365-days-a-year Democratic Party campaign machine.
Ben Wikler is, no question, the person who can do just that.
During Trump’s first term, when we both worked at MoveOn, Ben and I were in the trenches together, pushing back against the administration to protect the rights that we all believe in. I witnessed Ben’s strategic brilliance, organizing prowess, and top-notch communication skills firsthand in 2017, during the fight to protect the Affordable Care Act from Republicans’ relentless efforts to destroy it. Ben worked tirelessly across the big Democratic tent—with elected officials, labor advocates, and other allied groups —to drive a monthslong campaign to stop the dangerous stripping away of our health care.
The night the late Senator John McCain cast the deciding vote to finally save the ACA for good, Ben was outside the Capitol with our team and hundreds of constituents, after days-long activations to push back against these Republican attacks.
To be clear: The fight to save the ACA was not only a morally righteous fight that saved health care for millions, it was also the defining political battle that exposed the fallacy of Trump and Trumpism and led to a historic win of the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, which set the stage for the remainder of Trump’s term and led us to a 2020 victory.
Since then, I’ve watched as Ben moved back home to Wisconsin to rebuild the Wisconsin Democratic Party, painting a clear picture of what the Democratic Party can and must be in all fifty states.
Under Ben’s leadership, Wisconsin Democrats outran the rest of the country by nearly 5 percentage points. In addition, Wisconsin Democrats came together to reelect Senator Tammy Baldwin and flipped 10 state assembly seats and four state senate seats.
In fact, under Ben’s tenure, Democrats have won 7 out of 10 statewide races, including the 2020 general election, the governor’s race in 2022, and the state Supreme Court races in 2020 and 2023. These wins have helped ensure that Democrats can reverse gerrymandering in the state and are now poised to overturn Wisconsin’s abortion ban.
Ben’s a uniter who has built winning coalitions in Wisconsin across race, ethnicity, gender, generation, geography, and ideology. And he knows winning means organizing in red, blue, and purple areas alike, combining local bottom-up knowledge with the strength of a national megaphone.
He’s also a prolific fundraiser who will ensure that the DNC has the resources to win and build. Since his 2019 election as Wisconsin chair, Ben has raised nearly $200 million, an impressive figure that he has reinvested in the state party infrastructure.
Now, with Donald Trump back in office and Republicans controlling all branches of government, we need a DNC leader who can unite all facets of the Democratic Party, lead us in an effective fight taking on Republicans in their own turf, and win by raising and mobilizing the resources we need to be successful.
There is no easy button Democrats can push to get us out of the hole we find ourselves in. But ensuring we have a strong and effective DNC is an important piece of the puzzle. I have no doubt that Ben Wikler is a great choice to meet this moment, for the party and our country.